Zivid Studio User Guide

An Introduction to Zivid Studio

What is Zivid Studio?

Zivid Studio is an application that provides you with a simple graphical user interface (GUI) to explore the functionality of Zivid, our advanced and exceptionally accurate 3D camera.

What to expect with Zivid Studio?

With Zivid Studio you can explore all the available functions of the Zivid camera to correctly develop your application. You can:

• Visualize the 3D point cloud, 2D image and depth data
• Save the point cloud to disk
• Determine the correct settings for your sample object
• Enable live mode to view the 3D point cloud in real time
• Evaluate data quality in high quality 3D images

A point cloud is a 3D representation of an image. A good point cloud is characterized by dense points and no missing data, yielding a life-like 3D model of the captured scene.

 Fig.1.1 The image below displays a screenshot of Zivid Studio in use.

Overview of User interface elements in Zivid Studio

1.1 Toolbar

The Zivid Studio toolbar on the top of the interface comprises of some options to allow you to save your image, control the interface, and get information about the Zivid Studio interface being used.

Fig.1.2 Toolbar options with Zivid Studio

Table 1.1 Zivid Studio Toolbar description

1.2 Available views 

There are three available views to choose from at the bottom of the Zivid Studio interface as shown in Fig. 1.3

Fig.1.3 Available views 

• 3D Point Cloud

This view displays the 3D point cloud of the scene after capture, or in real time when using the live mode. This is a flexible view with zoom, pan, and rotate functionality. Use the left mouse button to rotate the point cloud and the right mouse button to pan the view. You can zoom in or out by rolling the mouse wheel, or by the middle mouse button (if available) followed by dragging the mouse.

Fig.1.4 3D point cloud

• 2D Color

You can view the 2D image by choosing the 2D color tab at the bottom. Zoom and pan functionality is available, however rotate function is not available with this view.

Fig.1.5 2D color image

• 2D Depth

This view displays the depth image of the imaged objects. The color scale shows the variation in distance along the z-axis from the camera to the surfaces of the imaged objects.

 Fig.1.6 2D depth image

1.3 Capture your first image in 3 steps

Step 1. Enter live mode

Fig.1.7 Enter live mode

Step 2. Determine optimal settings to acquire dense points over the entire scene.

 The camera has an active iris that controls the amount of light that gets into the camera. The iris can have values from 0-72 where a higher value lets more light in. The iris is open enough to capture objects from a scene at around iris value 8-10. As you keep on increasing the iris you will continue to acquire more and more points on your object until a certain iris value. Beyond this iris value, you will start losing points on your object. A sample graph for a white object is shown below.

Fig.1.8 Number of pixels acquired and iris value for a white sample object

The Zivid camera can capture high quality images for many objects with a single iris. However, depending on the objects being imaged, you may need more than one iris value to get points on the whole scene.

• Find the iris value that gives you max points on the scene
• Address any areas with missing points. Click add frame to add more iris values
• For dark objects in your scene, if you have to increase the iris beyond 40 to get points, increase the exposure time in increments until you can get points with an iris value 40 or below. This will help you retain depth of field for the images.
• Use the available parameters like the reflection filter

Fig.1.9 Choosing optimal settings 

Do not choose iris values randomly or in increments. This reduces data quality. Ensure that you adjust the iris slider in live mode to find the iris(es) that render points over the whole scene. If multiple irises are required, click add frame

Step 3. Click Single/HDR  to view the resulting point cloud

1.4 Basic settings

There are several unique filters and settings available in Zivid Studio to ensure that you get a high-quality point cloud. The basic settings to adjust in order to capture a good 3D image are iris, exposure time and brightness.

Fig.1.10 Basic settings in Zivid Studio

To ensure that images retain depth of field, set the iris values below 40 and increase the exposure time instead to compensate for loss of light.

1.5 Single frame vs. multi frame HDR

Finding the best combination of iris and exposure time settings 

You can increase the amount of light entering the camera by

• Increasing the iris value OR
• Increasing the exposure time setting

In Fig 1.7, different combinations of iris and exposure time settings are used to capture four good images with dense points. However, Image 4 with the highest exposure time and the lowest iris retains the most depth of focus and has the sharpest point cloud.

Increasing the exposure time will require you to decrease the iris for similar results

Decreasing the exposure time will require you to increase the iris for similar results

Multi frame HDR: 

All the settings available within Zivid Studio are clustered into frames. For each frame specified, the camera captures an image with all the associated settings (iris, exposure time, brightness etc.) for that frame. The images corresponding to each frame are finally combined to display a single high-quality HDR output image. Refer image 1.9 for illustration.

Fig.1.11 Single capture or multi frame HDR capture 

Understanding Zivid Studio settings in detail

 2.1 Zivid Studio features

Capture Dialog Options

Fig. 2.1 Options on the capture dialog

Functions and settings

 Fig. 2.2 Zivid Studio Functions

2.2 Aperture control, electronic iris and corresponding f-numbers

The electronic iris is an adjustable opening (aperture), which controls the amount of light coming through the lens (i.e. the "exposure"). The more you open the iris, the more light comes in and the picture appears brighter. The iris can have values from 0 to 72 where higher values lets more light in. The iris is open enough to capture objects from a scene at around iris value range of 8-10. As you keep on increasing the iris you will continue to acquire more and more points on your object until a certain iris value. Beyond this iris value, you will start losing points on your object (Fig 1.8).

Reducing the aperture diameter (increasing the f-number) increases the depth of field because only the light travelling at shallower angles passes through the aperture.

Capturing Images: Examples

To help you understand how to take optimal images with your new 3D camera, we have compiled a few case scenarios with different types of materials.

Case 1: Dark objects

 Fig.3.1.1 Zivid camera in 2D

Step 1: Enter live mode

Step 2: Adjust the iris slider to find the settings that gives you maximum number of points in the point cloud.

Step 3. Adjust the exposure time if necessary

Step 4: If multiple irises are required, click add frame to introduce new iris(es). You can adjust the exposure time and other settings for every frame as required

Step 5: Click capture to view the resulting point cloud from all the defined frames. Turn color off (keyboard shortcut ‘c’) to ensure that you have points all over the black object or change settings if required.

For this case with the Zivid camera, the combination of iris values 15 and 36 along with the exposure time of 10000 produces a good point cloud. Fig.3.1.2 and 3.1.3. illustrate the need for multi-frame capture. Fig. 3.1.3 has dense points over most of the object, but some areas, e.g. around the edges and the Zivid logo do not have points unless you include iris 15.

Fig.3.1.2 Single capture with Iris 15

Fig.3.1.3 Single capture with Iris 36

Fig.3.1.4 High quality point cloud using HDR mode with Iris 15 and 36

For this case with the Zivid camera, the combination of iris values 15 and 36 along with the exposure time of 10000 produces a good point cloud. Fig.3.1.2 and 3.1.3. illustrate the need for multi-frame capture. Fig. 3.1.3 has dense points over most of the object, but some areas, e.g. around the edges and the Zivid logo do not have points unless you include iris 15.

Fig. 3.1.5 Optimizing settings for your application

Case 2: Colored objects

Fig.3.2.1 Image of a Meffert's cube in 2D

Step 1: Enter live mode

Step 2: Adjust the iris slider to find the settings that gives you maximum number of points in the point cloud

Step 3. Adjust the exposure time if necessary

For the Mefferts cube, it was not necessary to change the exposure time

Step 4: If multiple irises are required, click add frame to introduce new iris(es). You can also adjust the exposure time and other settings for every frame as required

Step 5: Click capture to view the resulting point cloud from all the defined frames. Turn color off (keyboard shortcut ‘c’) to ensure that you have points all over the black object or change settings if required

 Iris 21

Iris 30 

 Fig.3.2.2 Point cloud with Iris setting 21 and 30

Using 2 frames with irises 21 and 30 renders a high quality HDR image and a dense point cloud with no missing areas as shown in Fig.3.2.3

 Fig.3.2.3 High quality point cloud using HDR mode with iris 21 and 30

Case 3: Shiny metallic parts

Fig.3.3.1 Image of the object in 2D

Step 1: Enter live mode

Step 2: Adjust the iris slider to find the settings that gives you maximum number of points in the point cloud

Step 3. Adjust the exposure time if necessary

Step 4: If multiple irises are required, click add frame to introduce new iris(es). You can adjust the exposure time and other settings for every frame as required

Step 5: Click Capture to view the resulting point cloud from all the defined frames. Turn color off (keyboard shortcut ‘c’) to ensure that you have points all over the black object or change settings if required

Iris 37	Iris 29	Iris 20
Iris 14	Iris 10	HDR

Fig.3.3.2 Capturing HDR image of a shiny object

For this object, five iris values are required- 10, 14, 20, 29 and 37. Each of these active iris points were tested individually and confirmed to be the best combination of settings required for this object.

Fig.3.3.2 illustrates the result of these different iris values individually, and the final output with the use of Zivids unique HDR feature.

Iris 14

Iris 11

Iris 10

 Fig.3.3.3 Capturing HDR image of a shiny object

Expert tip: On rotating the 3D image you may find noise points. These points can be chaotic if recognized as part of the object (e.g. In case of a bin-picking scenario). Zivid’s unique reflection filter solves this problem intelligently. Under Preferences, enable the reflection filter to eliminate noise points and get a noise free image.

Without Reflection Filter

With Reflection filter

Fig.3.3.4 Effect of Zivid's unique reflection filter

These tips should help you capture an optimal image with a dense point cloud. Fig.3.3.5 displays the final output of the object used in this example.

HDR without color

HDR with color

Fig.3.3.5 Final HDR image in 3D

Tips and tricks

• Always use live mode to determine the best irises for your sample objects. Do not set the irises randomly or in increments. This compromises on speed and/or data quality.

• Adding more irises does not necessarily optimize data quality. If the image was already optimized or if other parameters need to be tuned, adding more irises instead will only increase acquisition time.

      Example: For the shiny metal pipe, adding iris 11 when iris 10 and 14 are already set do not optimize the image further as the       points rendered by iris 11 are already included in the points given by iris 10 and 14.

• Use the Reflection Filter to get rid of noise points.

• Use the Bidirectional filter if there are noise points that the reflection filter could not eliminate.

• Adjust ambient light if possible. Low ambient lighting works best for acquiring sharp images, this is true for shiny parts in particular. If lighting cannot be adjusted, ensure that the brightness parameter is adjusted for the best results.

     E.g. Use brightness less than 1.0 in dark conditions, and higher than 1.0 in bright conditions.

• Always set the recommended operational distance for your camera.

     Example: 0.5m for the Small, 0.8 m for the Medium, and 1.8 m for the Large cameras.

• Use a dark background to capture high-quality point cloud easily, especially with shiny parts.

      E.g. Black bin/ black background.

• To counter highlights in your point cloud, include a lower iris value. Use live mode to determine which iris to include.

      E.g. As shown in Fig.3.3.6, the highlight in the middle of the duct tape is countered by adding a lower iris of 13.

Fig. 4.3 Countering highlights with low irises

• Hotkeys